[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2553 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2553

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
 initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, 
              prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 11, 2016

 Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Cornyn, and 
   Mr. Cruz) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 
systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 
 initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, 
              prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Kari's Law Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. DEFAULT CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FOR 
              DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1.

    (a) In General.--Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 721. DEFAULT CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS FOR 
              DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1.

    ``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `multi-line telephone 
system' has the meaning given the term in section 6502 of the Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1471).
    ``(b) Direct Initiation of Calls to 9-1-1.--A person engaged in the 
business of manufacturing, importing, selling, leasing, or installing 
multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or import for use in 
the United States, sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in the 
United States, or install in the United States a multi-line telephone 
system unless the default configuration of the system allows a user to 
directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station equipped with 
dialing facilities--
            ``(1) without requiring the user to dial any additional 
        digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access 
        code (such as the digit `9'); and
            ``(2) regardless of whether the user is required to dial 
        such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.
    ``(c) On-Site Notification.--
            ``(1) In general.--A person engaged in the business of 
        installing multi-line telephone systems, in installing a system 
        described in paragraph (2), shall configure the system to 
        provide a notification to a central location--
                    ``(A) at the facility where the system is 
                installed; and
                    ``(B) when a person at the facility initiates a 
                call to 9-1-1 using the system.
            ``(2) Configuration.--A system described in this paragraph 
        is a multi-line telephone system that is able to be configured 
        to provide the notification described in paragraph (1) without 
        an improvement to the hardware of the system.
    ``(d) Enforcement.--This section shall be enforced under title V, 
except that section 501 applies only to the extent that the section 
provides for the imposition of a fine.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to a multi-line telephone system that is 
manufactured, imported, offered for first sale or lease, first sold or 
leased, or installed after the date that is 2 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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